Oklahoma
State may have the best point guard in the country in Marcus Smart.

Two-thirds of Baylor’s front line probably could be playing at the next level
now.

Still, as it always does, the discussion of the Big 12 men’s basketball race
begins with Kansas. When you’ve won or tied for nine consecutive conference
titles, as Bill Self has done, respect is a given.

While Kansas lost all five starters, the expectations remain high with eight
newcomers, including phenom-in-training Andrew Wiggins, 7-footer Joel Embiid and
McDonald’s All-American Wayne Selden.

Self has already done his part to handle expectations, noting that he’s had
higher-ranked preseason teams.

“All we’ve really done is basically tell our guys there’s been some pretty
good players here before you that have proven their ability and how they can
impact a program,” Self said, “and none of you guys have even made a basket
yet.”

The start of something at TCU

From
across the room at Big 12 basketball media day, Karviar Shepherd had a great
view of the media mob surrounding the Kansas players.

He could have been part of that freshman class as well. Instead, he took the
path less traveled from Prime Prep Academy to TCU, the highest-rated recruit in
Horned Frog history.

“The challenge is to the guys that we’re recruiting,” TCU coach Trent Johnson
said. “Do they have enough courage to come and be part of building a tradition
and being part of it?”

At 6-10 and 225 pounds, Shepherd is the sort of impact player that makes
others think of TCU as a destination, even after the Horned Frogs finished 2-16
in their first Big 12 season.

“I just felt like I was at home, and that is a great feeling as player,”
Shepherd said. “I have a support system back at home, 20 minutes
away.”

One more year at Baylor

Oklahoma
State isn’t the only Big 12 program benefiting from a player or two deciding to
defer entering the NBA draft.

Baylor gained an NBA-ready front-line when 7-1 Isaiah Austin and 6-9 Cory
Jefferson each decided to return. Austin, projected as a first-round selection
most of the season, passed on the draft, in part because of shoulder surgery to
repair a torn posterior labrum.

“We didn’t end our season as we wanted to,” Austin said. “The NIT is not what
we’re looking forward to. So this year, we’re hoping to make a deep run in the
NCAA Tournament.”

Jefferson is that rarity, a fifth-year senior with NBA upside who gained
further experience as a member of the U.S. team in the World University Games.

Jefferson believes Baylor could match up with the team that went to the Elite
Eight in 2012. The coaches voting in the USA
Today poll were skeptical. Baylor didn’t crack the Top 25.

“That’s disrespect,” Austin said. “That’s how I see it. We’re a tough team to
beat, and we’ll show people this year.”

Are Bears due?

Baylor
has alternated between long NCAA runs and missing the tournament altogether. The
Bears would love for the pattern to hold for one more season:

Season

Record

Postseason

2008-09

24-15

NIT runner-up

2009-10

28-8

NCAA Elite Eight

2010-11

18-13

None

2011-12

30-8

NCAA Elite Eight

2012-13

22-14

NIT champions

Bringing stability to Tech

In
22 seasons and counting as a Division I head coach, Tubby Smith acknowledges he
hasn’t ever quite faced the situation he’s inherited at Texas Tech.

“No, I don’t think I have,” said Smith, the fourth coach at Texas Tech since
2011.

In the last five seasons under Pat Knight, Bill Gillispie and Chris Walker,
Tech has won exactly 16 Big 12 games amid turmoil that has shaken the
program.

Even Smith acknowledged that his approach is different because of what has
happened before.

“I think we’ll be a lot more compassionate and concerned about their fragile
egos,” Smith said. “You need a healthy ego. Players have to be confident in who
they are and their ability.”

As a coach with more than 500 career victories and one NCAA championship at
Kentucky, Smith at least brings stability and credibility.

He had been out of work for less than two full days after being fired at
Minnesota when he was contacted by Tech. So far, Smith likes what he’s seen from
his players, and they’ve responded to another change.

“They’ve been rejuvenated,” Smith said. “They’ve hit the refresh button. The
excitement they’ve shown and the work ethic they’ve shown has been
contagious.”

Texas F Connor Lammert: ‘It’s not what we want’

Even
when Texas wasn’t the Big 12 favorite during the Rick Barnes era, the Longhorns
used to almost always be part of the discussion.

Now they seem like an afterthought, and Barnes finds himself facing hard
questions.

After Texas’ top four scorers either transferred or turned pro early, scoring
could be in short supply. Sophomore point guard Javan Felix, coming off a hip
procedure, is the team’s leading scorer at 6.8 points a game.

The reality of being picked eighth in a 10-team league also had hit home.

“It’s unacceptable for us to be there,” forward Connor Lammert said. “It’s
not what we want. I think at the end of the season, our record reflected that we
should be ranked that low.”

To escape the league’s lower echelon, Felix has to be the poor man’s D.J.
Augustin that people expected, and 6-9 Cameron Ridley has to show a much more
polished back-to-the-basket game.

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